Nadirim exclusive interview

Nadirim is a visually stunning browser game with an original and captivating Arabian Nights theme, and the community is already very excited about it. Free MMO Station spoke with Paul Toderas, designer for Nadirim to find out why they chose this setting and what they have in store for us.

Can you please introduce yourself and your role in Nadirim?

I am Paul Toderas, a designer working on Nadirim since the very beginning. Friends and colleagues call me Sephi.

Digital Reality has quite a back-story, and I fondly remember Reunion as one of the most absorbing games I’ve ever played. With Nadirim they’re making the move from pay-to-play to free-to-play. Do you eventually see this model as the future of PC games?

In response to the recently released Nadirim lore video, several gamers commented that browser games usually aren’t that fun, but they loved Nadirim’s setting and the art style so they said they would give it a try. This is exactly what we want to achieve. The free to play model makes online gaming more accessible to a wider audience, but we still want to please our hardcore gaming fans.

Digital Reality has nearly 20 years of experience in game development. We decided to expand our efforts into browser gaming, so that we could offer our games to a wider circle of fans and friends. Having secured private funding, Digital Reality now publishes games across all platforms, from downloadable console titles, to browser-based and mobile games. We are building a wide base of gaming fans, and we aim to please them wherever they play.

Nadirim will be a browser-based game. Was there a strong reason for this choice over a client-based game? To reach more gamers?

Naturally, a browser game has the potential to reach a wider audience, but it’s also a creative challenge for Digital Reality. Several members of our game design team and code team are fans of client-based games. Working within the limitations of the web browser gives our team a chance to stretch their creative skills to the maximum. We feel confident that if we can build a game that we like, then Nadirim will also excite the interest of other gamers. This is a new area for our team to explore, and we’re up to the challenge.

The theme for Nadirim is very original. Why did you choose to go with the Arabian look and feel? Are you great fans of it or you were just tired of the usual fantasy setting?

We were looking for a new area to explore, and we felt that the Arabian Nights theme had a lot of potential. It’s a visually rich world of djinns, magic carpets, palaces and deserts. We were able to incorporate many familiar gaming elements – for example questing, battles and trading – and offer them in a new and exciting setting. So, yes, we wanted to offer gaming fans something different, and I think Nadirim provides that.

Nadirim is looking really beautiful from the handful of screens we’ve seen, and we can’t wait to see it in action. Would you consider the visuals as one of the most time consuming areas for the development team?

We’ve put a lot of hard work into the visual design of the game, and we’re very glad you like what we’ve been able to show so far. Yes, the visual design has been time consuming, but we hope that our fans agree this greatly enhances the gaming experience. I should also add that we composed an original soundtrack to accompany the game. This is all part of pushing the limits of what fans expect to see in a browser game.

How do the turn-based combats play out, and why did you choose this over real-time? Can you describe any specific details of the combat?

What we’ve found is that RPG fans love card games. They love to prepare for a combat, set the skills and plan their strategy. Turn-based combat is fun for both sides because it offers a unique depth of exploration. We want our players to feel that every battle is a challenge; they need to plan ahead and be ready for every surprise they might encounter.

Will the game feature micro-transactions, and what kind of items do you intend to sell? Nowadays a lot of players are leaving other MMO games due to the unbalanced stores. How do you feel about that?

The game is filled with items and weapons that a player can collect early in the game. Our goal is that Nadirim should be fun and rewarding experience for those who play for free. Naturally, some players will want to advance faster, and in that case they can pay. We expect our Closed Beta players to help us find the right balance.

The closed beta is just a few weeks away. Are you getting a lot of applications and seeing the general excitement for the game?

We’re very pleased at the growing buzz surrounding Nadirim. We received several thousand beta applications directly after launching our first teaser site. Community members are excited to see the game in action. To our surprise, we also got a huge spike of interest from Asia, which we didn’t expect. Good news seems to travel quickly around the net.

Anything else you would like to say to our readers?

We’ve put a great deal of effort into building a world that will excite and enchant our players. The story is engaging and original. The visual imagery is rich, detailed and sensuous. With Nadirim, we intend to take our fans on a magic carpet ride that will please and satisfy. And if any part of the experience is lacking, we intend to work with our fans to improve the experience and make it even more compelling.